RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Julia Child of Chinese Cooking, or the Fu Pei-mei of French Food?
JF Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies
FD University of California Press
SP 15
OP 26
DO 10.1525/gfc.2018.18.1.15
VO 18
IS 1
A1 King, Michelle T.
YR 2018
UL http://gcfs.ucpress.edu/content/18/1/15.abstract
AB Fu Pei-mei (1931–2004), cookbook author and television personality in postwar Taiwan, was often called the “Julia Child of Chinese Cooking.” While Child sought to introduce American audiences to the unfamiliar tastes and traditions of French cuisine, Fu was demonstrating Chinese cooking to a new generation of postwar housewives in Taiwan, who needed her expertise and guidance in the kitchen. Fu authored more than thirty cookbooks, many of which were bilingual Chinese-English, and hosted Taiwan television's first instructional program on Chinese cooking for almost four decades, beginning in 1962. From a political vantage point, Fu's culinary talent, linguistic skills, and gracious demeanor perfectly filled the existing needs of the ruling Nationalist Party on Taiwan. Fu's comprehensive survey of Chinese regional cuisines united an otherwise fractious and fragile postwar nation. Yet Fu would not have attained the level of popularity that she did, had she not also connected deeply with her female audience. Over decades of dramatic social change for women in Taiwan, Fu embraced both the practical and emotional needs of ordinary housewives and career women alike, who sought out her expert guidance in the onerous daily task of feeding their families. This article compares the political, gender, and media contexts of Child's and Fu's culinary careers, in order to highlight the distinctive impact each had on millions of television viewers and would-be home cooks.